Menu

Why Police Officers are the Perfect Heroes

Upon the release of my new novel, many readers have been approaching me with the same question: why did I choose a police officer to be the hero in Too Late for Regrets?

I wanted the hero and heroine to meet in a rescue situation. Only police officers and firefighters are constantly responsible for rescuing people. The initial meeting would need much dialogue, and if the heroine was being rescued from a burning house by a firefighter with dozens of people milling around, there would be no opportunity for dialogue. The same held true if she were to be rescued by a police officer in a traffic accident. The chaos wouldn’t allow for much sweet talk now, would it?

So the rescue had to take place in a secluded area. I chose a cul-de-sac near the police officer’s house. The perfect private setting. Then another continuity issue arose: how was Timothy to know that Elizabeth was there? I solved the problem by having a small boy on a bicycle see Elizabeth in distress and rush to alert the police officer of her situation.

Writing is an endless cycle of problem solving. How do we get our characters from point A to point B? This allows for a constant flow of creativity and imagination where we can explore tame and sometimes outrageous ways of bringing our story to fruition. Nothing is off the table. Being an author allows one to be wonderfully free, doesn’t it?

Once I had decided that Timothy would be a police officer, I wondered: what is it about law enforcement figures and their damsel in distress counterparts that makes their relationships so passionate and interesting? Why does the idea of being rescued bring out the most intense love in all of us?